Rain World’s ecosystem includes terrifying vultures and stilt-legged jackalopes, which will observe your actions and remember you

Rain World boasts an ecosystem of interrelationships a tiny slugcat could leverage for their own benefit.

Rain World has been on our radars for a while now, based on its gorgeous art and moody trailers. But did you know developer Videocult has simulated an ecosystem inside the gorgeous indie?

In a fascinating entry on the PlayStation Blog, Rain World artist and programmer Joar Jakobsson described some of the fauna of the strange setting, and how various species relate to the slugcat protagonist as well as each other.

“We’ve built a kind of living ecosystem simulation where creatures exist independently of the player and autonomously search throughout the world for food and shelter,” he wrote.

“The slithering neon lizards you encounter have brutally dangerous claws and teeth, but are also individuals that can learn to recognize you.

The mighty vultures swooping down from above are fierce hunters of both lizards and slugcats, but they’re not mindless machines — if you wrong one it may decide to track you specifically and you’ll never again be able to pass under open sky without an anxious eye upwards.

“The scruffy scavengers rooting through the garbage heaps are distrusting and dangerous, but save one from the jaws of a vulture and you might make a friend, or eventually even gain the trust of the entire pack.”

Jakobsson said rain World is intended to provide an experience where the player character gets no special treatment but is a part of a world that carries regardless of them. Slugcat is quick but has no special abilities – only the knowledge the player gathers as they explore the world and learn to manipulate its systems.

“If you stay in hiding you will see scenes such as the mighty leviathan emerging from the deep to feed on scurrying tadpole fish, or rival lizards fighting it out over territory until the less dominant gives up and departs. Choose the right moment to emerge or intervene, and you will be able to proceed un-eaten,” Jakobsson wrote.

Here are some beautiful GIFs showing off the harsh but intriguing Rain World: